Mackenzie Updates: Diary-like quick entries, and more.
My daughter, Mackenzie Grace McFate, suffered an ischemic stroke, a stroke caused by a blood clot, on the afternoon of October 31, 2024. She spent a few days in the ER and neurology units at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) in Iowa City and was discharged on the afternoon of November 4. By Tuesday, November 13 she had nearly fully recovered with very few visible signs of minor impairment. Unfortunately, at about 1:30 PM on Wednesday, November 13, while resting at home she suffered a second ischemic stroke impacting the same parts of the brain. I’m thankful that very quick action on the part of many saved her life, but she has a longer road to recovery now and many friends are asking what happened and what they can do to help. So…
I began sharing daily updates with a group of friends and family on November 14, and I think it helped us all cope with the situation, perhaps me most of all. In order to catch folks up, and remember myself, I’ve elected to open a new blog section here that begins with those “Mackenzie Update” posts.
I’m sorry to share bad news, but I hope you find it enlightening and uplifting as I did, at least some parts of it. There have certainly been moments in this journey that made us laugh and smile as the old Mackenzie finds her way back into our lives.
Sorry for missing the last few eventful WEEKS, and Happy New Year to all. Lots of folks were asking about Mackenzie in the past few days between holidays, so here’s a brief update…
Mackenzie is doing well and continues to show improvement. The last month has been spent largely in speech and occupational therapy appointments at GRMC, with “homework” therapy assigned for the days in-between. She had only a couple occupational therapy sessions, and one physical therapy, before “graduating” out of those sessions. She has one more speech therapy session tomorrow but I expect we will add more of those for at least the next month or so.
Sorry for missing the last few eventful days since we returned home from the hospital.
So, we returned from Mercy CR’s IRU on Tuesday afternoon and spent most of the day getting Mackenzie settled back in, nothing too strenuous or complicated. Chris went off to school for the afternoon, grandma brought lunch in for us, and after school (early out) we had dinner together.
I did some cleaning and tinkered around with some things until about 7 PM when I was getting really tired. Thought I’d lay down for an hour then get back at it, but I fell fast asleep and woke up Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM when my alarm went off.
Not much to report thus far today. Mackenzie had OT this morning at 7:30 AM and I got booted out of her room (to the very comfy family lounge/lobby) for ST a few minutes ago. She has a full slate of therapy (mostly speech) until about 2 PM today, then rest.
I’m here on my own today and expect to sneak in a few hours of work after an early start at 5 AM.
Posted on
from US Highway 30 - Eastbound between Toledo and Cedar Rapids, IA
I’m in the car and headed back to CR, and I haven’t seen Mackenzie in more than 24 hours so I’m not sure what to tell you here but I thought maybe it’s time for a little fun and humor. I’m also capturing this because I don’t wanna forget it down the road.
A few days ago when we checked into Mercy Cedar Rapids, our caseworker came in collecting information, mostly from me, but also from Mackenzie. She had lots of questions.
Sorry for the very late update today. I spent the morning at home and most of the day at work in Grinnell before visiting Morgan in M’town “on the way home”.
I know Mackenzie had a full day of therapy today and I’m told her blood pressure did spike a little but I think they are keeping a close eye on that and got it back down. I also know she had a psych consult today because we were worried about depression after she was told she’d have to stay a few more days. And then her cousin passed away and I think we all could have benefitted from some consultation, and rest. But I’m told that went well and she’s in pretty good spirits now.
Good morning Liz and Kayla. I am sharing this update with a much smaller group so please don’t share just yet. Not all family members have been notified of our latest tragedy, but I wanted to let you know what my plans are now.
I’ve been staying with my brother-in-law, Mark, and his partner Teresa, in Marion. Yesterday we received word that my nephew, Mark’s son Mason and Mackenzie‘s closest cousin (born just a few months apart) passed away unexpectedly.
Mackenzie is snoozing, and snoring, again, after a hard day of therapy and too little sleep from being poked and wakened every 2 hours or so, 24/7. I’m not sure how all her therapy was today because it was all done outside of her room, but it sure wore her out.
Please don’t ever share this with Mackenzie, it would really piss her off, but it sounds like they might have released her earlier than Tuesday had next week had not been Thanksgiving. They worried that she might (would) go more than a few days without outpatient therapy due to the holiday, and they don’t want that. They stressed that this early therapy needs to be frequent and regular. So they are keeping her here in the run-up to the long Turkey Day weekend. I think it will be our family responsibility to keep pushing her through the long weekend and hopefully she can engage with GRMC Physical Therapy on Monday, December 1, or shortly after. The really good news is she will get a full-day (8:30 AM until after 3 PM) of therapy tomorrow, Saturday, November 23.
Not much to update here, but I wanted to post and add Kayla to the updates thread.
Mackenzie had a good nap after therapy and she’s perked up a little. She still hates that she can’t go home tomorrow, but I think she is coming to grips with that. I got an OK to bring some of her OLD video games back with me tomorrow so she hopefully won’t get too bored this weekend when therapy slows down a bit.
Our girl is not too happy this afternoon. Her care team would like her to stay here until Tuesday morning, November 24, so she can receive very intensive speech and occupational therapy for a few more days before moving to outpatient therapy. She is still making great progress but was really hoping to go home before this weekend when things move a little slower around here. I honestly think she’s more bored than frustrated right now.